Chances are you may already know this, but Donald Trump was shot in the ear. The injury was sustained last weekend on July 13 at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, when a 20-year-old man fired at the former president from a nearby roof. Though the attempted assassination was thwarted by Trump’s last-second head tilt, his right ear took the brunt of the injury, the bloody outcome captured in images that made their way around the web an infinite amount of times.
With the first night of the Republican National Convention happening on July 15, Trump had no choice but to quickly return to the fray, and with it came a new look. As the reality TV star and former president entered the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee – to chants of “USA!” and the sound of Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” – he wore a small rectangular bandage on his right ear. It was an understandable sight for someone who’d just experienced the velocity of a bullet whizz past his face, but, unbeknownst to him, the former president had actually birthed the latest fashion trend, set to enthral the most zealous corners of the Trumpsphere.
To commemorate the close shave, a number of guests at the Republican National Convention are wearing their own singular type of accessory, donning mock ear bandages in support of the embattled politician. The mock bandages began to appear on ears on Wednesday, and quickly swept through the convention centre to form a sea of floating white squares. Some are even customising their patches with slogans like “T 2024” and the completely-normal-and-not-worrying-at-all “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT”. Whether tucked behind glasses, poking out from beneath cowboy hats, or sticking from MAGA caps, a right ear bandage is the hottest thing in Republican fashion right now, and you can get the look by following this one simple step: tape some tissue to your ear.
Americans love to rebrand things with a patriotic glean (see: Freedom Fries), so for the trend to really embed itself into fashion’s fabric, I suggest a snappy name to really get people going. A Solidarity Sling could work well, as well as Liberty Dressing, or maybe a Pillow of Protection. If all else fails, they could go with something with a bit more punchy, like a Patriot Plaster, or maybe even the Gauze of God if they’re feeling devout. And given the current penchant for gay men to dress like red state Republicans coming back from a tailgate party, the look will surely trickle down to the circuits in due course too.